Once extinct on the James River, bald eagles are soaring back

By Tamara Dietrich

Adult eagle with chicks

Bryan Watts

Bryan Watts

Pollution once drove bald eagles to extinction along the James River in Virginia. Now the mighty birds are soaring back.

It’s a triumphant success story documented every year by a trio of men who take to a tiny plane to count nests along this major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, and then the number of hatchlings in those nests.